How to Network As an Internet Marketer
Anyone with a computer, internet access, and a very basic knowledge of the internet can start a home based internet marketing business. You can easily find products and services to affiliate with or create your own to sell online. Plus, there is more than enough free home based business and internet marketing information readily available for you to learn how to make money online. However, one thing that is important to develop right from the start is a network so you can make a name for yourself within your market.
Networking is a concept that has been popular for many years. In the classical world of business, networking meant getting known in prominent business and social circles. Now we are in the internet age, so how can you start networking online to help your internet marketing business to become prominent and well known?
First of all, don’t be shy to meet new people online who are in your business niche. Whatever your business niche is, go to the websites, blogs and forums in your niche and become a well-known member at them. Make sure that you participate in the discussions and get to know people. Don’t forget that forums are great places to exchange information and they are also perfect for gaining potential customers. Don’t be afraid to talk about the positive and the negative aspects of what you are marketing. Honesty and support works in internet marketing – people will only pay if you are worth it.
Make sure that you become a member of several social networking sites. As surprising as it may be, social networking sites can definitely help you gain the potential leverage that you need for your internet marketing business. Sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Technorati and many others can help you gain prominent contacts. Make sure you get to know a lot of people and thus lots of potential market partners and business contacts.
Once you reach a certain level of prominence in your market, then you can try more advanced techniques of Social Networking. For example, you can try to conduct webinars (seminars that are conducted on the internet to a larger audience) on internet marketing and mention your products and services that you are selling. The main purpose of conducting these webinars should be to create a social networking opportunity and to get to know potential customers. In fact, you can repeat these webinars at certain time intervals to create an even wider network for yourself.
Last but not least, do not be afraid to use your existing customers to create a social networking environment for yourself. Don’t forget that happy customers will be one of the best references for you and the people that you meet through them will have high potential to become customers for your internet marketing business. Don’t forget that networking can create a greater potential for you than most other marketing technique available when it comes to repeat business.
Don’t Register A Domain Name Until You Read This!
So you have decided it’s time to register a domain name, start a website, and get into internet marketing. Or maybe you are just looking to start another website to expand your online business empire. Whatever your situation is, there are a few things you need to remember before registering a domain name.
There are many benefits of having a good domain name, and before you decide on one you should know that short, catchy, and descriptive domains are best. Although it’s very hard to find domains that have all three of these traits it can still be done. If you have to settle for a domain that doesn’t have all three of these then I suggest throwing out the descriptive part because short and catchy is more important. You can brand any domain so it doesn’t have to be descriptive although it should be if possible.
There are literally millions of domains with websites up on them and millions more that are registered but not in use. Sometimes people will register them for future use, or to resell them at a profit, or they just never get around to putting a site on them. Most of the short, catchy, and really good domains have already been registered over the years so it’s pretty hard to find a perfect domain. Just imagine if you would have been the one to find google.com – yahoo.com – ebay.com – amazon.com – business.com – money.com or any of about a million others that are as perfect as those domains are.
It is easy to check and see if your domain name is already registered and if it is, you can always check other extensions or find a different domain that is available close to the one you wanted. Extensions are at the end of the URL, such as .com or .net or .org. As far as internet marketing is concerned, it’s best to have a .com domain.
Once you have the right combination, then immediately register your domain before someone else beats you to it. Yes, it can happen, on more than one occasion I have found a domain that was available and within minutes it was already taken because I took my time getting it registered.
Some internet marketers say that the domain isn’t important but I disagree. I’m a firm believer that the domain name is important! If your website has an easy-to-remember URL then the chances of visitors coming to your site increases dramatically. Or if it has a catchy domain people will want to come there just to see what it’s all about and they will remember it. If it’s descriptive people will know what your site is about. A good domain name can be a huge part of your marketing strategy and marketing is what makes you money. And the whole point of internet marketing is to make money!
It’s also easier to advertise a shorter domain name. Often times you have a limited amount of space to put your link so if your domain is really long you won’t have room. Plus, a nice catchy domain will sometimes go viral and bring in thousands of visitors just because everyone is talking about how great it is. Or if your domain is descriptive you can strategically place your URL in locations without needing to put an ad to let the potential visitor know what your site is about. It can virtually advertise itself!
Choosing the right domain name costs nothing extra except a little more time to carefully contemplate the decision. However, it can have a dramatic effect on the success of your online business. Finding your domain is the first step of internet marketing and taking time to get the first step right will have a lasting impact on your online business and all the other internet marketing strategies you will be using for years to come.
Important Internet Marketing Strategies
There are numerous internet marketing strategies that can help you get the most out of your website. These internet marketing strategies are important because they bring traffic to your website, increase sales, improve customer retention, and make you more money!
In order for an internet marketing strategy to work it will need a few basic things. First, you will need a good domain name that is easy for everyone to remember and has something to do with your services or company name. Second, you’ll need a memorable logo or slogan to set yourself apart from your competition in your marketing efforts. Once you have these, you can then start planning your strategy for how you will make your website known to the world.
Getting inbound links to your site is the best way to announce your site to the world as well as increase your search engine rankings, and bring in a lot of short term and long term traffic. Getting links can be done in many ways and most of them either do not cost you any money or will cost you very little.
One popular internet marketing strategy for getting inbound links is submitting to website directories. This is where your list of related keywords will come in handy because you will want to link to your site using the keywords you are trying to rank highly for.
Link exchanges are another internet marketing strategy that can be used to get inbound links and increase your search rankings. You find other quality sites that are related to yours and ask the webmaster if they want to exchange links. You put a link to their site from your site and they return the favor by reciprocating. Some will say yes but most will not. Just move on to the next when they decline. Remember you only want to exchange links with sites related to yours and only high quality sites.
One of the best internet marketing strategies for getting inbound links is through article marketing. You will write quality articles on topics related to your website and submit them to article directories and other websites that accept article submissions. At the bottom of your article you are allowed a resource box that tells a little about your business and links to your website. Again, quality is important here. Nobody is going to publish or read a crappy article, and you only get the inbound link if they publish it.
Another internet marketing strategy you can use to get inbound links is commenting on blogs. Most blogs nowadays do not follow links in comments so they won’t do much for you in this regard, but you can still find plenty that do. Remember to provide good comments. Don’t go spamming all those sites with worthless comments or it will do more damage to you than good. If they delete your comment then you are wasting your time so you must make sure it’s a comment worth keeping.
Basically the best internet marketing strategies come down to obtaining the highest possible search engine rankings and getting lots of inbound links is the best way to do this. High search engine rankings are important because they will make you accessible to as many potential buyers as possible. The most successful online business websites are those that achieve high search engine rankings and thus receive more targeted traffic than others.
Internet Marketing Advertising
If you want to build a successful internet marketing business you need to know how internet marketers advertise their websites to make money. By utilizing effective advertising will you be able to drive traffic to your website and turn those visitors into money. Many internet marketers who have discovered cost effective advertising that actually works to bring in lots of traffic to their sites have also realized that it is quite possible to live entirely off the profits made from the traffic these ads bring. It’s no longer just a dream.
A good starting point when planning an internet marketing advertising campaign is to have something that makes you stand out from your competitors. This could be something as simple as a memorable name or logo. There are many free tools to help you create these, and there are many experts who will do this professionally at a reasonable price. Ask around and you will surely find someone who’ll make you an attractive catchy banner logo or design.
The best logos and names are those that conform to the “KISS” principle: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. Short and creative names stay in our memories much longer. Another thing to keep updated on your website is your company’s profile that includes all products, services, and prices. This saves a lot of time for your visitors and many would order on the basis of that alone.
Once you have everything set up you can start the actual planning of your internet marketing advertising campaigns. You can start this by adding your website link to major directories and doing link exchanges using keywords in your links to boost your search engine rankings.
Another effective and very popular method used for internet marketing advertising is to post content to article directories and websites that accept submissions. This is a method of free advertising that can literally reach hundreds of thousands of potential customers and increase your search engine rankings at the same time. Article marketing has been proven for years to work very well as an internet marketing method and it is completely free.
When you really think about it, internet marketing advertising is actually quite simple and all you have to do is follow some basic rules. There are so many places and methods of advertising your website that you’ll surely find something to fit your budget.
Internet Marketing School
IntMktr.com is an internet marketing information center for beginning internet marketers all the way up to seasoned veterans. We feature internet marketing resources, tips, strategies, and much more! Here you will find everything you need to build a successful online business and be another internet marketing success story.
Our team of internet marketers have over 25 years of combined internet marketing experience and we are all making our live online full time. So you can be sure you are getting the latest and greatest internet marketing information from this website.
What would you, as an internet marketer, like to learn? We are always looking for questions from the internet marketing world.
Here at the internet marketing classroom we will teach you things you would never learn in school so you can actually make money online and create financial freedom for you and your family. In this internet marketing school you will learn things that real internet marketers want to learn, such as:
* Blogging
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* Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
* Linking Strategies
* Article Marketing
* Virtual Real Estate (VRE)
* Social Networking
* Niche Marketing
* Forum Marketing
* List Building
* Creating Products
* Page Rank (PR)
* Search Engines (Google, Bing)
* Network Marketing
* Affiliate Marketing
* Traffic Generation
* Advertising/Promotion
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Tell all your internet marketer friends to come here often to get up-to-date techniques and information.